‘Prometheus’ Sequel Confirmed; Lindelof May Not Return

Published 2 years ago
by
Kofi Outlaw
, Updated February 15th, 2014 at 10:00 pm,

It would be a major understatement to say that Prometheusleft a big door wide open. The film (which was (at least originally) supposed to serve as something of prequel to to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror classic, Alien) instead inspired more questions than answers; questions that people around the world have attempted to explain ever since the film’s release.

In that sense it was unsurprising when the possibility of a Prometheus sequel was first brought up, as a sizable gap between the quasi-prequel and the first Alien film still exists. The very existence of that aforementioned gap (which could have easily been closed with a few revisions to the Prometheus story) almost necessecitates another chapter of the tale; which is exactly what we will be getting in a few years.

THRdid a rundown of how the summer 2012 tentpoles for the major movie studios did at the box office, and what the future of those franchises is (if any exists). For 20th Century Fox, the summer 2012 slate was relatively empty, and a lot of hopes rested on Prometheus being a big performer. As it stands, Ridley Scott’s return to the sci-fi genre earned $300 million worldwide on a $130 million budget – which is (not great, but) good enough for Fox to move ahead with a sequel.

“Ridley is incredibly excited about the movie, but we have to get it right. We can’t rush it,”

Earlier this summer, during an interview, Ridley Scott himself assured our own Roth Cornet that he indeed has a firm grasp on the story, and where it would go next. WARNING: THE FOLLOWING RESPONSE CONTAINS PROMETHEUS SPOILERS!

From that interview:

Screen Rant: My question is how far ahead have you thought? Or have you talked to Damon (Lindelof) about where the possibility of a sequel will go? Have you already opened those doors in terms of you already know where these answers are and it’s just a matter of making it? Or are you sort of like ‘We will think about that a little bit assuming the movie is a hit. Let’s talk later.’

Ridley Scott: “It’s a bit of each. You do a bit of each and I’ve opened the doors. I know where it’s going. I know that to keep him alive is essential and to keep her alive is essential and to go where they came from, not where I came from, is essential. That’s a pretty open door and then rather than going to that, I don’t see landing in a place that looks like paradise, that’s not how it’s going to be. There is a plan, yeah.”

SR: How important is it for you to be directly involved as a director in that?

RS: “Totally. I develop everything. I do. I learned that a long time ago. It’s never going to land on your desk, you have to come up with what you want to do with the story and I think sometimes it can take two or three years…

Maybe we'll finally find out what THIS was all about...

Admittedly, hearing both Watts and Scott drop the caveat that a sequel ‘can’t be rushed’ is a bit frustrating. Many viewers signed on to see Prometheus in the expectation that they would see the story of how the dreaded Alien Xenomorphs came to be, and how those fearsome creatures landed on that faithful planet where Ellen Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo first encountered them; instead, we got a much larger mythology that only tangentially referenced the actual kernel of knowledge so many were hungry for. Hearing that there “needs” to be an extended delay to actually get the full meal will likely be frustrating to many fans beyond myself…

…Of course, what may raise some of those same fans’ hopes is an addition to the THR report, which states that while surviving Prometheus members David (Michael Fassbender) and Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) are both locked in for a sequel, Damon Lindelof (who co-wrote the script with newcomer Jon Spaihts) is not as certain to return. Apparently, Fox wants the sequel out in either the 2014 or 2015 summer season – a deadline Lindelof may not be able to make, thanks to his other commitments (Star Trek 2 being a big one).

Damon Lindelof

After the controversy that sprang up from the endings to both Lostand Prometheus - projects Lindelof had a big hand in crafting – there is a very jaded, but very vocal, demographic of cinephiles who believe the popular young writer to be something of a ‘two-act pony’ (as in, a writer who is unable to craft a satisfying third act conclusion to his often-mysterious screen stories). Given the amount of contradictions and holes that pepper the plot of Prometheus, maybe some new blood wouldn’t be a bad idea?

Look for the Prometheus Sequel sometime in either 2014 or 2015; check back to Screen Rant regularly for any updates that come to light.

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Izihah 2 years ago

They should’ve fired Lindelof when producing Prometheus : this screenplay was absolute garbage, and the movie was terrible. Scott hasn’t made a good movie since Black Hawk Down, he should keep to commercials, as he obviously doesn’t know anymore how to tell a simple story. Jesus.

Well i thought the writing on lost was a joke until i saw prometheus. Arthur C. Clark he isn’t. I’ve never seen such make up as you go along horsebleep. Right from the initial 5 star cluster one of which was a sun to the geologist that all rocks looked the same to. Plus since when do you send pyschos on deep space missions. So you know what, don’t bother with a sequal.

There are only real plot holes in Prometheus if you’re missed something. Its all there if you’re paying attention. And I’m sorry, i’m not going to jump on a fit throwing band wagon because a character said “half a billion miles from earth” in a clear figure of speech that wasn’t technically sound. Its a figure of speech, it doesn’t HAVE to be sound. Or a fit because one pilot stated the situation looked like a military experiment to him. Characters only know what they know, which means not all of their informational dialogue is accurate. And that’s the beauty of writing real characters instead of just informational mouth pieces. Prometheus was like an utterly fantastic Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode, most of which were very open ended and ready to be discussed and dissected 20 different ways. That’s what sci fi needs. How the Star Trek reboot is so highly praised when it was so vapid and hollow compared to what the series is capable of when not written by the guys who did Transformers, while Prometheus is trashed is utterly beyond me. Obviously pandering and dumb is in and I missed the memo.

Prometheus was way better than Alien Resurrection (on a side note I always found the sharing of genes between the face grabbers and the host to be a stupid concept which helped make Alien Resurrection so terrible)I digress, alan said it best this is what sci-fi needs. Keep an open mind with this sequel, it could be the best move yet!

fantastic, thank you. I can’t put my finger on why people are so polarized on this film. in every discussion I have, the most intense and thrilling events have been labeled as bad writing or bad characters. people complain about questions being asked. what i saw in the theater was expert pacing and shot selection with beautiful science fiction elements.

‎’Many viewers signed on to see Prometheus in the expectation that they would see the story of how the dreaded Alien Xenomorphs came to be, and how those fearsome creatures landed on that faithful planet where Ellen Ripley and the crew of the Nostromo first encountered them; instead, we got a much larger mythology that only tangentially referenced the actual kernel of knowledge so many were hungry for.’

Perfect quote to describe angry Alien and Prometheus fans. I have had this stand point since I walked out of my local theatre to all of my friends blowing my ears off with how bad the movie was, with me asking them why, to getting the same answers from them EVERY single time. Now let me explain this.

Now when I read that, it made everything pretty darn clear why a lot of critics and people in general hated the movie(plot holes, too many ‘unanswered’ questions, ‘horrible’ screenplay and acting). Now when I go to a movie, I don’t get mad when the end of Madagascar 3 happens and credits role because it wasn’t a Rated-R gorey love mocudrama story. I was 100% certain that’s what Madagascar 3 was going to be about, but GOD DANGIT WHY WASN’T IT? Oh yeah, I forgot, I didn’t write the movie. Long story short, you can’t get mad at a writer and director for not making a movie YOU thought was going to happen, and it end up being way different because, you know, you’re a moron with way too much time on your hands to write scripts and direct your own movies. I don’t like to regress to the old cliche ‘IF YOU DIDN’T LIKE IT WHY AREN’T YOU MAKING MOVIES HUH?’ argument, but it’s almost inevitable with 99% of peoples arguments against this movie. I will say there have been a few film critics and writers who have brought up PERFECTLY ok questions that can’t get answered, a few things that could have gone better and so on and so forth. Those weren’t HUGE details they were griping about(and griping is used loosely). A major reason I can get down on the level where they are is because they logically and respectfully explained their viewpoint. Not went on a drunken banter on how Shaw couldn’t have POSSIBLY ran around in space on a moon with different lifeforms hundreds of years in the future after having a c-section surgery in a science fiction movie. You know, we like our science fiction nice and realistic because science fiction isn’t about what we think the future will be like or what we could really do with space given the technology. All science fiction is apparently to these folks are manilla folder’s with TOP SECRET NASA SCHEMATICS on it I guess. That’s about as real as science fiction gets in real life folks. If you want ‘real’ in your science fiction, try joining a community college biology or astronomy course and you can go fall asleep to some ‘real-life’ science fiction.

This is the most idiotic logic ever. Look at it from a simple economics perspective: supply and demand. Why in the heck would you make a movie that didn’t meet the desires of the fans? It’s like saying “hey, we know a product that our customers really want, but, screw it, lets give them something that falls completely short of meeting those expectations. Because, you know, we’re arrogant assholes and we feel we know what people want more than they do.” Prometheus is similar to an awesome movie that suddenly stopped 2/3 the way through, with big white “THE END” words. It leaves you thinking “uh, yeah, but WHAT ABOUT THE CONCLUSION?!” Then Ridley Scott and his arrogant-jerk screen writer have the audacity to hem haw about a sequel. Give the fans what they want. Or, don’t and make way less profits.

Well taking it from a simple economics perspective, supply and demand is a fabrication of profit and nothing more. The food supply has been increasing, and so have the prices too, demand has stayed stable and there’s actually a back log of it, so they create fictions about shortages etc to drive the price up more.

These stories aren’t simple mindless supply and demand, because that would be cheap and frankly, b*******. Prometheus is a story meant to create a demand, and you know what? As a true fan of the original Alien film, it strung a chord on all notes. Most people complaining aren’t Alien fans, they are Aliens fans, this isn’t a shoot’em up, its a “Let me pry your brain for a minute, and you can make your own connections.” Its intelligent, sophisticated, and its a story as the original universes host wants us to learn.

In other words, think, understand this is going elsewhere, drop your expectations this should be something YOU wanted it to be, when it really should be about the story.

The funny thing is though NASA secret documents used to exist and very much like the science fiction movies.

Documents included things such as accidentally exposing farm land to ecoli during crop dusting tests and experimental bio fuel system testing with ingredients used on jet fighters stored on the Nimitz which didn’t properly burn off when afterburners were kicked in and remained in the systems until jets were labeled expired so they could begin removing main compnents and how those same area’s in the 1990′s had reported outbreaks of ecoli in same exact areas where the incidents occured. Which I believe Bush had some of those jet’s crushed up, which probably wasn’t the safe way to dispose of the aircraft using the heavy machines to tear up the expired aircraft, atleast some of them were destroyed and not reused.

Documents accessible via the NASA’s Wilkes Library under search term N. W. Zimmerman, had 2 scanned copies in a side by side comparison, on 1 side contained page by page comparison with blanked/blacked out paragraphs, on the other side was completely intact and unedited version.

After September 11th those documents became innaccessible, either due to the security precautions at the time or due to with Adobe Flash Player was being implemented and many websites at the time went through a major cosmetic overhaul, or some of the computers were in or near some of the buildings that went down, or it could’ve been they were retired as they were running off 300MHz IBM computers.

It even had hybrid grey type aliens testing in it explaining every single detail, including what, what for, and how, including coverup info about how NASA tried to make a law on how to handle encounters giving them broader power and to hide the info from the government, back then people forget before modern day antibiotics that a silver compound was used all these years which was in the time those experiments were performed to create living creatures that had a higher level of antibodies and could resist deseases and regrow damaged parts, those experiments included testing on animals, insects, the silver compound removed oxygen from cells and and resulted in darkened grey skin coloring, experiments were all listed as successful, project was later cancelled, etc…

They also listed how NASA supposedly used Brown labs to acquire early wireless modem and satellite communications technology and later information from US Robotics and 3Com to support future communications development for long range space projects and was later introduced in Motorola for Cell Phone communications.

The law giving them broader power was the one where they could say you were suspected of coming into contact with an alien or something else and they could hold civilians that learned about the projects including their own employee’s they were trying to hide from government as a way to maintain secrecy and control over the events and documents on the subject matter, as those documents were not government documents public interest going to the government would return invalid results as they never contained such documents and therefore the wrong questions were asked to the wrong entities.

With today’s information and focus NASA’s current employee’s have no idea, even if a few old ones might, most were too busy on their own projects at the time to notice the rest and the mindset was completely different.

The documents also listed Quantum computing, solid state chemical lasers in space via TRW on the automotive website front backend, and even the Terabyte Transistor documents which was somehow tied to Brown Labs findings

So yeah I agree with you accept on the NASA part, and no worries NASA today is tame and a regular organization, and the old law and things they tried to established has been reversed long ago.

Damon Lindelof is an idiot, Jon Spaihts wrote a PERFECT ‘ALIEN’ prequel and Mr. LOST screwed it all up!!! Why did Sir Ridley hire and listen this idiotic pied-piper of a writer that Lindelof is, he wrecked an awesome idea and now we need sequels to fix his MORONIC mistakes!!!

I thought Prometheus was quite brilliant actually. The theory behind it, which is quite controversial in the world today, also know as Exogensis, Panspermia or, more basically, the seed theory is one that he elaboratef upon phenomenally well. I’m not surprised that there were huge gaping plot holes because who else than Ridley Scott to keep you guessing as to what he actually meant? And to be honest I think it’s best that he’s taking it away from Alien, if he had made it a true, die hard prequel to Alien everyone and there brother would have bitched that it was the same story just rehashed.

Prometheus was beautifully done, opening the door to a whole other world of stuff. If he had answered all of your questions at once the story would have lost all of it’s meaning.

The only thing I didn’t like was how rushed the ending seemed. There was never enough time, maybe that’s good, maybe that’s bad.

Plus I must give him props on the title. Prometheus works so wonderfully, man recieves fire or man recieves life. Now if he names the next one Epimetheus or maybe Atlas I’ll be even more impressed.

Seeing all these movies today, and being in the midst of developing my own ideas into films and other media, I am far more, than pleased with the response, “we have to get it right. We can’t rush it”. Does not frustrate me at all.

That’s great. Take your time. Take all you need. I can wait 10 years to see the next piece unfold in it’s full, and unique glory, because the engineers have taken their precious time.

And I am not excited just about seeing how the fabric patterns of Prometheus continue to successively arrange into what can be seamlessly attached to those of the loose beginning ends of Alien, but I am also excited about seeing and learning more about Weyland Industries, and the engineers.

I thought Prometheus was brilliantly done. The bitter complaints about Lindelof destroying the franchise are over the top dramatic…I mean really. I agreed with much of what was said regarding the unanswered questions and criticisms but overall I thought the film did a great job of expanding the universe of the story. I mean the Alien sci fi genre is all about the infinite universe and yet some critics (I use that term loosely) expected this film to be the end all be all of the Alien origin. Some questions were answered, some weren’t and more questions were tossed up and I look forward to the next film

Prometheus turned out a lot different than I expected but it was a good surprise and a movie that balanced answers with more questions. After seeing the movie I decided to see what critics thought and apparently they seen a whole different movie. Their complaints were dumb and seemed liked whining. I look forward to the next film.

I was very happy with the movie in general and left thinking that it opened more questions than closed answers and I remain eager to see some but not all of my questions answered in the sequel.
Immediately after viewing I arrived home to find “Alien” showing on TV and “Mother” looked like an obsolete find in the Valley of The Kings compared to the technogadgetry on show in Prometheus and I do think that some SpaceTime window needs to be added to overcome that obvious flaw if one story is going to be knitted effectively to the other.
Nevertheless I eagerly anticipate the sequel as much as I did Prometheus itself.
The engineers seeding planets is a great idea but commiting genomal Hari Kari as per the opening scene in order to do so seems a bit bizarre for such an advanced race and as to where the engineers come from and why they now (whenever now is?)want to destroy the human race are questions that need to be addressed.
And will the AVP combined franchise ever have Predators battling the Engineers and humans–plus the ubiquitous bad ass Aliens?
So much to look forward to because there are so many permutations.

The Prometheus was a cutting edge company research ship while the Nostromo was an old space tug, whenever see the command & control Center on the Sulaco, so it’s safe to say the Nostromo is a low-end tug, almost obsolete or out of date, maybe even older than the Prometheus, with a lifetime of refitting keeping the vessel in service.

I’m not sure where the writer of this post gets the idea that a Prometheus sequel would have anything to do with the Alien movies. Lindelof has been quoted several times sayin that a Prometheus sequel would move further away from being an alien prequel. Even in the snippet from the blog’s interview with Scott there is mention of further exploring the engineers. So yes, maybe more on the history of xenomorphs just nothing even resembling a direct prequel.

Many paths, highly suggestive alternatives – The sequel could move both ahead and back, making connections between the surviving woman explorer to locate the founder planet and also deep past origins with the earth cave humans and the white alien, and the lead character’s motivation. The founders attempted original genetic experiments for a perfect human gone awry and led to insights on the source code of android “David” and/or humanity, also compose genetic “mistakes” that compose the Prometheus planet visit and experiment, and Alien prequel. Then the visit to the founders planet, not as religious creator god but of a faded or lost “original” race, and perhaps some ‘unity’ of a religious and scientific concept as a unity and challenge of creation vs. evolution theory – While human differences with alien founders form a potential universal disaster plot or an expansion of our evolution through a new Adam and Eve meeting, perhaps David as machine (he showed independence) mated (or lab worked) with the woman or a founder alien, or required breeding genes to create bodies the founders need or have created in stasis which needs match to human dna (the scientist or the androids), all obviously to decipher the code of original human DNA and reptile survival nature. All this may lead back to a return to the prometheus housing station or even to Earth to save (change) the human form (with a long standing genetic imprint now becoming activated). All this seems to suggest a trilogy.

And this whole “move away from ALIEN” attitude is why Damon Lindelof should be kept as FAAAR away as possibly from any sequel script, get Spaihts back to write WITHOUT, Lindelof’s asinine interference, the guy’s a damn big pair of floppy red clown shoes, as a writer. LOST sucked s*** NUFF’ SAID, Sir Ridley don’t let him have any involvement PLEASE!!!

I haven’t been this excited to see a sequel since matrix! So please get it done, as long as we learn about the aliens that invented us and there’s some form of dialog and obviously more about the predator alien.
Thanks
Chad

I really enjoyed Prometheus and the group that went in with me was a mix of alien fans or friends who had not seen an alien movie (yeah i know they lived in a cave), but the overall reaction was it was a very good movie. I look forward to a sequel. I can’t wait.

Well no sequel, all I can say is that’s a freakin bummer! I hope that means lindelof gets his own movie. I’d definitely pay 12 bucks to see that unless they made a trilogy and lots of space craft battles and new planet terra battles with new cool weapons and crazy tech and made it 3-D then I’d totally pay my 20 bucks for IMAX and drag my girl and all my cousins to see a spectical like that!!!!!

did anybody pay any attention! theres hundreds more ships! he obviously wasnt the only survivor just the only survivor of that ship! when the almost xenomorph poped out there was what llooked like an egg! egg or pre xenomorph stumbles around ships untill it accidently sets something of wakes up white alien impregnates him he sets a course for earth alien pops out of his chest crash lands on the planet from the first alien! that f****** simple! can anyone now a days still think for themselves!!!!!!

Not really complaining, because I enjoyed the movie – but most of the scientists seemed to be of little intelligence. Some more offbeat moments/details/intelligence likely would have given the film even more charisma. ‘Mr. Biology’ picks his nose, and comments on having to walk through “alien piss” … It’s not that these characters need more of a role, they are where they are, in the background, so have mr. biology getting his biology kit ready in the background, or maybe the geologist should be actually interested in rocks? They act like a bunch of kids that have to go on a field trip to somewhere really boring… Which did feel out of place. Of course the first time watching the movie I wasn’t even looking at these details because I was trying to piece together the bigger questions.

My thoughts on the movie itself is that it was interesting, weird, but cool, crisp scenary and sounds, however, they killed too many people off for the direction it went in towards the end, in the other movies it was understandable why they did so, but in this one it most certainly wasn’t, the last scene was probably the worst of the movie that anyone could see would have some problems come from future questions, especially due to the fact anyone under such circumstances would have no doubt done the exact opposite and got out of dodge.

After all the main charactor was put through the last thing you’d expect is an ending of the exact opposite common reaction you’d expect, the alien ship was displayed as basically a rolling Donut or crescant roll, and that robot would have been untrustworthy to keep around after what it did, let alone to trust it to aid in going any further with the main charactor in the very end of the movie, after the emergency assistance I think Mr. Robot woulda went out the alien ship’s air lock into space.

i want a sequel more than anything its not finished, thats obvious, and if u didnt like the movie dont watch the sequel, but there are enough followers for producers to make a profit for sure. Every1 i know who saw it loved it, please let there be another. the story is umfimished

If you didn’t like the movie then your clearly not a true syfi fan. You don’t have to spend your money on the next one but everyone I know will. I just want to see the planet Lindorf is from and all the new technology they have. That’s what brings out the kid in me and let’s me dream what can be possible

Actually that is what it was billed as. A Prequel. By that definition we all expected it to end as a set-up for the movie Aliens. I guess I was correct when I theorized this was just the first part a trilogy. Since that means Prometheus was falsely advertised, I will be skipping the next two installments. So much for Scott’s career. Perhaps he can go hang out with Lucas and Spielberg and reminisce about the good ‘ol days.

Ridley Scott signed on for two movies in the first place you jackasses. When it was first announced that Prometheus was being made, every article talked about how there would be two movies. So stop bitching about how the first one ended. Also people complaining about characters doing stupid things to get themselves killed like touching the space snake need to relax. When you write a script it can be very hard to make everything totally realistic. If every character was perfect, nothing would ever happen in the first place, hence the biologist getting killed. Compare it to Alien which is an amazing film. I don’t hear anyone complaining about when the black guy tries to fist fight the alien instead of running away. Characters HAVE to do stupid things at some point, regardless if they are smart enough to be sent into deep space. It’s a story worth being told over the course of two or three films, don’t you think?